How to write a story

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December 26, 2014 by Wayne.

1. Spend a day’s salary on a moleskine
2. Pirate Ulysses
3. Lug macbook to a cafe
4. Swear off milk-based coffee
5. Stare intently at empty screen when the cute girl brings you espressos
6. Wonder why all the girls in red tops and high-waisted pleated skirts and swept-back hair darkening from brown look so good
7. I feel myself fading with every hour
8. Wonder if you can afford lunch
9. Wonder what’s her name and if it would matter
10. Wonder if it makes sense that 50 thousand credits translated to 50 cycles at the Guard which only buys 8 hours of T-door
11. Start a fresh new to-do list from unfinished lists
12. Resolve to start a healthy lifestyle in the morning
13. Add more Franzen and Faber to Goodreads to-buy
14. See a photo of her in a navy peacoat and sweats against a garage door
15. Rationalize that it is impossible to truly start before finding an appropriate name for your main character
16. Watch Heston make the perfect poached egg
17. Adjust sliders on lightroom
18. Brainstorm other ways to sell off pieces of your life now that you’ve been banned from eBay
19. Read a bit of Fahrenheit Twins while waiting for the loud group to vacate the table next to a power socket
20. Wish McD and Coffea would hurry up and get their wifi connected
21. See the cute server walk past again and avert eyes
22. By Sunday, I will have dissolved into nothingness
23. Set strict deadlines for word count
24. Read about plot-deadlines being more effective
25. Decide to revise word count goals
26. Wonder if she’s moved in with him
27. Finish downloading the latest flash
28. Skip lunch
29. By Monday, I will be a half-lesson, a dream sliding across the expanding expanse, words punched out upon impact, as alive as the sludge smacking into gelasin, dissolving and still smiling
30. Write.